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Ten Things To Watch For In The Daytona 500

By Brian Thornsburg

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 21, 2015; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Kyle Busch (54) is attended to by medical staff after a wreck during the Alert Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 21, 2015; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Kyle Busch (54) is attended to by medical staff after a wreck during the Alert Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

Safety

Believe it or not, safety is a still a major problem when it comes to NASCAR racing. In fact, it was only one year ago that Kyle Busch broke his legs in a brutal crash during The Xfinity Series opener at Daytona International Raceway. Not only did the wreck cause Kyle Busch, who is a huge name in the sprint cup series to take time off from racing to recover, it also caused drivers and fans to question just how much NASCAR cared about safety.

The answer to that question is not very much, as it was revealed that NASCAR officials opted not to install safety barriers on the inside wall of the track where Busch’s brutal incident occurred.  This resulted in a huge backlash against NASCAR and ultimately resulted in NASCAR finally installing the needed barriers to ensure drivers safety during races at Daytona International Speedway.

While this specific incident did result in NASCAR making much-needed safety changes to their superspeedway tracks, there is still a lot NASCAR officials need to do to make these types of races safe for both the drivers and the fans. If not, then incidents the ones that plagued these types of  races last year will continue to happen, and it will only further tarnish NASCAR’s already dirty name.

Next: Learning curve?

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